Fighting is an accepted part of the sport of hockey, and it’s not uncommon to see two guys drop the gloves and start punching each other in the face. While a fistfight may spell the end of a relationship between people in real life, that’s not necessarily the case in hockey. In fact, you may end up becoming teammates.
You may remember the awkwardness when Brandon Manning – who infamously ended superstar Connor McDavid’s rookie season by running him into the boards – joined the Edmonton Oilers. Well, we saw another (more mild) case of this when Nikita Zadorov joined the Calgary Flames.
Zadorov is now teammates with Milan Lucic, making for a scary pair of tough guys on the Flames. The two have met before, but not in the friendliest of circumstances.
Zadorov took Austin Czarnik hard into the boards, and Lucic – in his first game with the Flames – wasn’t about to let that slide. The two met face to face, but it was clear Zadorov did not want to fight. Lucic continued to goad him, and even punched him in the face a few times with his gloves on.
The result of the play was a 2 minute boarding penalty for Zadorov, a 2 minute instigator for Lucic, a 5 minute major for the pair, and a 10 minute misconduct for Lucic. And a whoooole lot of animosity.
Luckily, the awkwardness doesn’t appear to be carrying over. Lucic quickly cleared the air, letting Zadorov know that they will now be able to “punch guys together now.”
What a heartwarming story that you could literally never hear anywhere else.
(H/T Brendan Parker)
